CSDirect Forums Guide
The CSDirect Forums are a community resource that allow Innovative users an opportunity to share ideas and experiences. Access to open forums is available to anyone with CSDirect access. To participate in the forums or to take advantage of other user features, individuals will need to register for a username and password.
This guide is intended to help users get started using the forums. If you have questions about functionality or need to report a problem with the CSDirect forums, please use the CSDirect Feedback Form.
User registration
CSDirect forums are available to anyone with CSDirect access. Unregistered users will be able to view forums in read-only mode. Registered users will also be able view and post to forums, manage subscriptions and bookmarks and take advantage of other user settings and features.
Restricted access forums may require a password to access the forum. Unregistered users will need to enter the password for read-only access, and registered users will need to provide the forum password in addition to their username and password. Forum passwords will be provided by Innovative as needed.
How to register
- Start with the Registration Screen
- Read and accept the terms of use.
- Fill out the User Registration form and Submit.
- Continue to the log in screen.
Reading and monitoring forums
As mentioned above, CSDirect users may read some forums without logging in, however, unregistered users will not be able to post or use other advanced features.
A forum is a discussion category, such as a product or specific audience. Within a forum, you may find sub-forums, as well as topics. Sub-forums are a way to group closely related topics within a broader forum. Topics are individual posts or discussions within the forum or subforum. For example, if there were a Circulation forum, there might be one subforum on Holds that includes one topic discussing clearing the hold shelf and another topic discussing recall policies for held items.
One way to read the forums is to browse through the forums that are of interest to you. If you are logged in as a registered user, you can also take advantage of the filters to help you limit your browse. Please note that these filters apply to all forums, not just those that are of interest to you.
Subscriptions
Registered users can also take advantage of the Subscription feature to stay current. You can subscribe to a forum or to a specific topic. A subscription means that when the forum or topic has a new post, you will recieve an email alert. You will not receive another email alert for that topic or forum until you log in to view the updates.
To subscribe, look for the Subscribe forum or Subscribe topic option when reading a forum or topic.
To unsubscribe from a forum, go to your User Control Panel > Overview > Manage Subscriptions. To unsubscribe from a topic, go to your User Control Panel > Overview > Manage Subscriptions, or click the "Unsubscribe topic" option when viewing the topic.
Bookmarks
You can also bookmark particular topics. Bookmarks can be viewed or updated in your User Control Panel. They are just a way of marking a topic for future reading or to save for future reference and do not send email alerts.
To bookmark a topic, click the Bookmark topic option when viewing a topic.
To remove a bookmark go to your User Control Panel > Overview > Manage Bookmarks, or click the "Remove bookmark" option when viewing the topic.
Posting to the forums
Registered users may post new topics or reply to existing topics. The level of authorization for any user may vary by forum.
Replying to an existing topic
To reply to an existing conversation, press the 
button located at the top and bottom of a topic view. This will add your post to the topic.
If you want to reply to a specific post, or refer to a specific post within that topic, use the 
button in the individual post. This will copy the content of that post into your reply so you can be specific about which part of the conversation you are replying to.
Posting a new topic
You can also start a new discussion within a forum by pressing the 
button. Please start your topic in the forum that is most appropriate for the subject.
Formatting your post
Posting to a forum can be as simple as entering text into the Subject and Message Body, just like when sending email. You cannot use HTML or other formatting in your posts, however, there are some options for formatting built into the forum software.
At the top of your message body box, you'll find a row of basic formatting tools:
- B - bold text
- i - italic text
- u- underline
- Quote - Place quoted text from another post between quote tags to indicate a quote. i.e., [quote]Text from a previous post[/quote]
- Code - Place code such as HTML, Java, character-based commands, etc. between code tags to indicate that this is a command or code rather than original text. i.e., [code]<!--{fieldspec:Vbp260:a}-->[/code]
- List and [*] - Insert a bulleted list into your post
[list]
[*] First Bullet
[*] Second Bullet
[*] Third Bullet
[/list] - List= and [*] - Insert an ordered list into your post. Use [list=1] for a numbered list or [list=a] for a lettered list.
[list=1]
[*] Item 1
[*] Item 2
[*] Item 3
[/list][list=a]
[*] Item a
[*] Item b
[*] Item c
[/list] - Img - Wrap a URL with the [img]URL[/img] tags to have the image display in your post. If you need to display an image that is not already on an accessible server, you can attach the image file to your post.
- Url - Hyperlinks the text between [url][/url] tags. URLs are automatically parsed as hyperlinks if they begin with http://
- Font-size - resize selected font to be larger or smaller than the default size.
- Font colour - use a different color for selected text. Please use sparingly to make reading the forums easy for everyone.
Attachments
You may also include an attachment in your post. This can be helpful for sharing a screenshot, or other documents. Files can be uploaded from your local PC and managed in your User Control Panel.
User Control Panel
As a registered user, you have access to a User Control Panel. From here you can monitor, view and update your profile, preferences, subscribed forums and topics.
- Overview
- Manage Subscriptions - View all forums/topics to which you are subscribed and "unwatch" these forums or topics. See also Subscribing to a Forum or Topic
- Manage Bookmarks - View any topics/forums that you have bookmarked for future viewing. See also Bookmarking a Forum or Topic
- Manage Drafts - View any posts that you saved, but have not yet posted. Drafts can be deleted or posted.
- Manage Attachments - View any attachments you included in previous posts. Attachments may be deleted in this view, but posts that included the attachment will remain without the attachment.
- Profile
- Edit Profile - Update your name, affiliation or site code.
- Edit Signature - Create a signature that can be manually or automatically attached to your posts.
- Edit Account Settings - Update your email address or password.
- Board Preferences
- Edit global settings - Update your preferences for email, online status, timezone and preferred date format.
- Edit posting defaults - Update your preferences for BBCode, Smilies, Signature, and reply notification.
- Edit display options - Update your prefrences for displaying images and topic/post sort order.